Days in the Sun
by AmazingGraceless
Summary: Tallissan "Tallie" Lintra takes a chance and applies to the Flight Academy on Chandrila to study under her hero, Wedge Antilles, and carve out an identity for herself separate from that of her miraculous Jedi sister, Jaina. At the school, she makes friends and becomes one of the best pilots in the galaxy. When tragedy strikes, however, Tallie must make her decision.
1. Day of Remembrance

Tallie sat outside on the front porch of the family home on Pippip 3. According to Grandmother Scout, the house was built by her own grandfather when he escaped with his Jedi bride from Coruscant after Order 66. It had been expanded on as the Lintra Family grew, but there were still reminders as to the true age of the home.

If Tallie sat under the railing, her arms draped over the first plank of two guarding the front porch from the wanderers, she could see where her mother had carved her and her father's initials into a heart.

 _J.P. + D.L._

There was an addition her father added when Tallie was born.

 _= T.L._

Seeing the letters brought a smile to her face. They reminded her of a time when her father was much happier. Then again, she was always sentimental on this day, over all others.

"Are you sure about this?"

Tallie turned her head and internally groaned when she saw her Aunt Deila standing in the doorway to the Lintra homestead.

"I've wanted this since Dad promised me I could," Tallie said. "That was six years ago."

"I just worry that you haven't thought this through," Aunt Deila said as she sat on one of the hammocks on the porch. "A tattoo is for life, you know."

Tallie bit her full bottom lip to keep from snapping at Aunt Deila. This wasn't the first time they'd had this very conversation. But it was as if Aunt Deila's mission was to act as Tallie's impulse control.

"It's to remember Mom," Tallie said. "And Dad's had this lined up for years now."

"I just don't want you ruining your pretty skin," Aunt Deila said. "Just because your mother liked to use tattoos in place of her memory doesn't mean you have to."

"I know that." Tallie's voice rose in pitch with her frustration. "That won't change my mind."

"Is everything alright out here?"

Tallie and Aunt Deila looked away to see Doran Lintra standing in the doorway. The widower had bright twinkling blue eyes and a clean-shaven face from his military days. His hair had grown-out a little since then, but Doran preferred it short.

Even with his more subdued energy, compared to Tallie's mother, Doran was bright in a way that Aunt Deila wasn't. Tallie couldn't quite put her finger on it, as they did have the same coloring.

"I was just reminding Tallie of the permanence of what she's doing," Aunt Deila said, sitting up straighter as her tone grew more haughty.

"You know what's also permanent?" Tallie snapped. "My mother being dead!"

There was an awkward silence on the front porch.

"Sorry, Aunt Deila," Tallie said. "Sorry, Dad. I shouldn't've said that."

Doran sighed in a way that made him appear ten years older. "It's alright, Tallie. Today is hard for all of us."

The silence drew on for a moment. Then Doran smiled again, despite how forced it looked.

"Come on, Tallie," he said. "Let's go get that tattoo, shall we?"

Tallie smiled, but her expression was more genuine. "We shall. Thanks, Dad."

As she got up, however, she heard footsteps, and out burst a small girl, who looked as frail and light as a bird.

"Why can't I have a tattoo, Dad?" Jaina whined.

Doran sighed. "You can in three years. Tallie's stopped growing, so it won't be a problem. Besides, the way I remember it, you got plenty of special outings and presents last week, for your birthday. It's Tallie's turn."

"She was my mother, too," Jaina protested softly.

"And don't worry, I have something special of hers for you," Doran said with a sigh. "Just be patient, Jaina."

"Alright," Jaina sighed. She sat down in the hammock, and screwed her eyes shut as she reached her hand out. A datapad left on the table floated into her hand.

Tallie rolled her eyes. "Show-off."

"Be nice," Doran said in a warning tone.

"Sorry," Tallie mumbled.

"That's better," Doran said. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

As the artist used his needle to put the Rebel Starbird and her mother's callsign on her right shoulder blade, Tallie thought of her mother's tattoos. Jayce Pulastra had a total of seven on her body. It was one of her many reasons that she wore such revealing clothing. Ever since Tallie could remember, she could trace the shapes imprinted on her mother's body, even though she knew some of them weren't there when she was born.

For instance, the tattoo on her mother's ankle, was done two months after Jaina was born. It was a rose with their first and middle names in the center of the bud. She designed it herself. Tallie learned how to spell her name from tracing the Aubresh letters of her full first and middle name on her mother's ankle.

 _Tallissan Rhiannon Lintra._

Tallissan was after her Grandma Scout. Her real name was Tallissan Esterhazy, and she had been a Jedi Knight during the Clone Wars. Since she was still alive, Doran was insistent that his firstborn child be named after his mother. But Rhiannon was the name both her mother and father wanted.

On her left shoulder-blade, she had a constellation imprinted, that was supposedly her parents' favorite. Her mother let her trace the pinpoints of ink on her skin as she recounted the story of Rhiannon the River Queen, a famous Corellian myth. It was her mother and her father's favorite constellation.

But throughout the whole process of the tattoo, Tallie couldn't stop thinking about the day she learned her mother had died.

* * *

Tallie was only nine years old. She was playing with her dolls on the floor with her little sister. Doran was working out in the fields with the crop-duster and farming droids, and Aunt Deila, Grandma Scout, and Tallie's cousins were sitting on the couches and talking.

Then the holo console beeped.

"Sera," Grandma Scout said, speaking to one of Tallie's cousins, "would you be so kind as to take that for me?"

Sera flipped her long light-brown hair over her shoulder and gladly accepted. She crossed the room and pressed the little green button to accept. The translucent blue head of Commander Wes Janson appeared.

"Is this Doran Lintra's residency?" Janson asked.

Tallie sat up straighter. Wes Janson, one of the heroes of the war, was her mother's commanding officer. She'd met him every once in a while, and he was always willing to make jokes with his partner, Hobbie Kilvian, and entertain the children of the pilots at official banquets and the like.

He looked tired in the holo, Tallie remembered that. He wasn't laughing that day.

"Yeah, he's out in the fields," Sera said. "Can you leave a message?"

"I'm afraid it's urgent that I see Doran Lintra immediately," Janson said.

Another cousin, Esme, stood up. "I'll go get him."

At that moment, Jaina blinked, as if she saw something far away. Her face fell.

"What is it?" Tallie hissed. "Jaina, what's wrong?"

Jaina shook her head ever-so-slightly, and her face grew serious, unblinking even.

The three minutes before Esme came back in felt like an infinity of awkward silence. Jaina refused to speak, and even Grandma Scout went silent. Aunt Deila kept opening her mouth to speak, before thinking better of it. Janson shifted, looking so exhausted and sad.

A cold crept in Tallie's skin, a cold she couldn't get rid of, even as she rubbed her arms. She knew something was wrong, something had happened to her mother. But she had to hope for the best, that it wasn't at all what she thought.

Esme burst in, practically dragging Doran along. He was covered in crop-dust and sweat, and the dark earth of Pippip 3 was smudged on his hands and cheek. Esme let go of him, and he stumbled in front of the holo-console.

"Commander Janson, sir," Doran said, mustering a smile. He gave a little bow. Then he paused, an expression of hope lingering in his eyes. "Where's Jayce? Is she alright?"

Janson swallowed. "Jayce was on patrol in one of the stations in the Outer Rim, close to where we believe the remnants of the Empire went. There was a signal from a ship, and she was one of the few soldiers on-duty at the time. She raised the alarm and fought bravely in a skirmish against strange ships. She was killed in the attack, allowing everyone else to survive and escape."

Tallie realized what that cold was. It was a sadness, and the realization that she knew. Somehow, she knew that her mother was gone before then, but she hadn't wanted to admit it to herself.

"Who did it?" Doran's voice was as cold as Tallie felt, and contained an anger Tallie had never seen in her father before.

"We're still looking into it," Janson confessed. "We're lucky just to be live, Mr. Lintra."

"I understand," Doran said. "Thank you for telling me, Wes."

"I'm sorry," Janson said hoarsely. "The New Republic will help cover the costs for her funeral."

"Thank you," Doran said.

He turned off the holo-console, and simply walked away, back into the fields. It was only then when Jaina started crying.

* * *

With the bandages over the black Rebel Starbird on her shoulder blade, Tallie felt closer to Jayce Pulastra. She remembered how her mother wore her tattoos with pride. Tallie only hoped that she could do the same.

"Thanks, Dad," she said as she followed him out to the speeder.

He smiled. "You're welcome, Starshine."


	2. Wise Child

The day after, the daily routine shifted back into place. When Tallie got up, Grandma Scout and Jaina were having breakfast in their little area in the screened back porch. Tallie had never been invited to go in there with them, but she had snuck in every once in a while. She knew what was in the strange glowing holocron— a warning from Obi-Wan Kenobi— and that the datapad of books Grandma Scout kept in there were incredibly dull.

She knew it wasn't Jaina's fault that everyone preferred her over Tallie. Jaina was special, able to do miracles. How could the ordinary Tallie ever measure against that?

Ever since Jaina was born, Grandma Scout could sense that Jaina was like her— a future Jedi. She was the first one to hold Jaina, and the bond maintained, especially after Jayce died. Quickly, Aunt Deila and many of the other aunts and uncles and cousins Tallie had on her father's side cooed over Jaina's every observation and action.

To be fair, it wasn't like Jaina acted too spoiled, despite being showered with praise and gifts. She was quiet, and sweet, always observing. She had an unblinking blue-eyed stare that pierced into Tallie's soul. Her face was strangely inexpressive, and she had that way of tilting her head to the side ever-so-slightly, as she listened to others, as if she were pondering a problem.

She could pick up small details and make conclusions that Tallie could never. And if Tallie asked how she knew to look for such clues, she would just shrug.

"I just do," Jaina always said.

* * *

Tallie was lucky to have gotten up before Aunt Deila, so she could be spared of the lectures she was sure that Deila prepared about the new tattoo.

She headed out to the fields, and into the barn where Doran kept his old RZ-fighter, now used as a crop-duster. She hauled open the doors and then turned on the old starfighter.

The hum of the engines was like a lullaby, and was the oldest one Tallie knew. Her love for flying was completely unmatched by all else. Her long, nimble fingers glided across the switches, flipping them on and off in the start-up sequence she knew by heart.

"Red Nine, standing by," Tallie murmured. It was her mother's old number during the war.

She thrust forward the joystick, and soared into the pink-spattered golden morning sky. The house grew tiny from there, and the fields of the Lintra homestead seemed to stretch on forever.

Pippip 3 was more beautiful from above. It was so easy to be caught in the mundanity of it all when she was on the ground, living in it. Only above, did Tallie realize how much she could love her home.

After a small eternity, Tallie set down in the barn.

 _Just in time,_ she thought as she saw her father's lone figure start down the dirt path to the barn. She hooked up a refueling pump, and waved to her father as he approached.

"Been up in the air again, Starshine?" Doran asked, a smile spreading across his face.

"Of course," Tallie said, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulders. "Gotta keep up my practice if I wanna be as good as you one day."

Doran smiled, but there was something that faltered in his eyes. He bit his lip.

"What?"

"You should go hang out with Jaina," Doran said. "She leaves tomorrow for the Jedi Academy."

Tallie rolled her eyes. "Isn't Luke Skywalker himself coming?"

"Yes, but that's not the point," Doran said. "I know things are sometimes rough between you two, because of how Mom and Deila treat her, but that's not Jaina's fault."

"Right," Tallie mumbled. "It's too much to ask that that she try to get me included."

"Those things just don't come to her because she's never had to think about a younger sibling like you have," Doran said. "It's not her fault what's happening. She's just a child."

Tallie bit her lip, just like her father did.

Doran put his hand on his eldest daughter's shoulder. "I know it's not fair, Starshine. But if it makes you feel better, I know Gav, Nom, and Danni are coming to see Jaina off."

A bit unwillingly, a smile flickered on Tallie's lips. "They never come around anymore."

"Because of Nom and Danni's fancy jobs on Hosnian Prime, and Gav's been busy running with Han Solo's new shipping company," Doran said. "But they wanted to make sure that they came to see your sister off, and see your new tattoo."

Tallie's flickering smile grew to the smirking grin that belonged to her mother. "I bet I look more like her every day."

"Just as beautiful," Doran agreed. "Except the eyes. You've got my dreamer's eyes, as my own father used to say."

"I guess I'll go talk to Jaina," Tallie said. "I'll help her pack."

"Atta girl," Doran said. "Maybe this evening we can look at our star charts, while Deila goes over Jaina's packed things."

"Yeah," Tallie agreed. "Love you, Dad."

"I love you too."

* * *

The second floor of the Lintra Homestead in the central building had slanted walls, because Tallie's grandfather had built it in a pyramid shape. The attic was the part with the pointy roof, but that wasn't the only challenge of living in a triangular house.

Corners of the house were difficult to clean. But somehow Tallie managed to keep her room neat and dust-free. Jaina, for all her wisdom, was not so blessed.

"This is a real sty," Tallie muttered as she picked up clothing off of the floor. "How long has it been since you vacuumed your room?"

"Five weeks." Jaina's eye twitched, her only sign of guilt.

"Don't worry, I'll help you," Tallie promised. She threw the shirt into the laundry chute in the wall. It would tumble into the laundry room on the first floor, where Sera, Tallie, and her other cousins would assist Aunt Deila with sorting and folding.

"Thanks," Jaina said. She looked to her open suitcase on her bed, with her sheets and blankets tossed about. "I have no idea what I'd even pack. I've never been away from home before."

"I know, we'll miss you so much, Wise Child," Tallie said.

Jaina's lip went pouty at the nickname she disliked so. She twisted the golden bracelet she'd received for her last birthday around her wrist. Stars and planets dangled off of it, with a golden rectangular block reading _Little Comet_.

Jayce had coined the name for her youngest daughter. The Jaina Comet was famous to all Corellians for being visible once every seven years in a distinctive arc. It was the most popular name on Corellia for that reason.

It was only natural to name their daughter, who was just as miraculous and wonderful, after the comet.

Doran called Jaina that, too, just like he called Tallie Starshine.

"You're thinking about our nicknames, aren't you?" Jaina's eyes were to the holos on the wall of two blonde giggling girls playing with their equally-blonde mother.

"Yeah." Tallie learned long ago to never lie about what she knew Jaina saw. "Dad had a nickname like that for Mom, too. She was Stargirl, I'm Starshine, and you're the Little Comet."

"Do you think she would think it was a good idea for me to go?" Jaina asked.

"Absolutely," Tallie said. "She wanted to follow her dreams, and she thought the same for us. She wouldn't have wanted either of us to be unhappy."

Tallie frowned. "Is everything okay? Are you getting nervous?"

Jaina's fragile, birdlike features remained emotionless, her eyes somewhere far away. "A little, I suppose."

Tallie waited, but Jaina said nothing. She scanned the room as she realized that Jaina would say no more.

"We should look for clothes, first, probably some practical stuff," Tallie said. "You'll hopefully be practicing with using a lightsaber in no time."

"Yeah."

The slightest of sounds would have drowned out Jaina's breathy voice.

Tallie hugged her before flinging open the closet doors. Moving through a checklist, she and Jaina worked together, and ended up having Tallie sit on the suitcase as Jaina struggled to zip it closed.

"May I come in?"

Grandma Scout stood in the doorway, watching the spectacle unfold.

Jaina brightened immediately. "Of course, Grandma Scout."

"I have something I would like to give to you," Grandma Scout said. She held an ornately-carved wooden box in her hand. "May I sit down? I am not as young as I used to be."

"Of course." Jaina immediately cleared a spot as Tallie scrambled off the bed to make room for the old woman. Even in wrinkled, pale old age, Grandma Scout resembled Jaina immensely. Except that Grandma Scout, back in the day, had red hair to her waist, rather than mid-neck length white-blonde waves.

Jaina sat down next to Grandma Scout, perched like a bird about to take off into the skies.

"You didn't have to give me anything," Jaina said. "You've done enough, teaching me about the Force."

"Yes, well, I think it is time that you have something I am far too old to use," Grandma Scout said. "Jedi Training was much different in my day. I don't remember my family, but they had made a sacrifice to the greater good by giving me to the Jedi Temple. When I was your age, I went to Illium with Master Tachi. There, I made the greatest weapon I would ever wield."

Tallie gasped as Jaina opened the box, revealing Grandma Scout's old lightsaber.

"I am far too old to fight," Grandma Scout said. "But your fight is only just beginning. You have a long road ahead of you, Little Comet. This weapon is a reminder of a far more civilized age. Guard it as if it were your life."

Jaina nodded, her expression grave as she held the metal cylinder in her hands. She examined it for a moment. Then she pointed the end upward, and turned it on. The room was bathed in the teal light emanating from the saber blade. An otherworldly hum filled the room.

Jaina turned it off, and the moment was gone. Tallie didn't understand what she felt when her sister had turned off the saber. She wouldn't understand for many more years.


	3. Home-going

It was exactly seven in the morning when Tallie got up to wait for her uncles' ship. A shuttle named the _Amidala_ set down in the tall grasses in front of the Lintra Homestead. Two men left the _Amidala_ , the shorter one with a blonde who was taller than he was.

"Uncle Gav! Uncle Nom! Aunt Danni!" Tallie ran up to them, and Uncle Gav embraced her.

"How's Jayce's girl?" Uncle Gav asked, laughing as he set her down.

"I'm alright," Tallie said. She looked to Uncle Nom, who was clinging to Aunt Danni, his eyes darting nervously. "How's it going, Danni?"

"We're working on some projects for the New Republic," Aunt Danni said. "Can't say much more than that, unfortunately."

"I understand," Tallie said. "Come on in, we're still waiting for Skywalker to arrive."

"Can't blame him," Uncle Gav complained. "It's too early in the morning!"

Tallie giggled. "Couldn't agree with you more."

She escorted them into the kitchen. Jaina sat at the center of aunts and uncles and grandparents, atop her trunk as they waited for Skywalker to arrive.

Tallie mostly remained in the background, watching as Jaina received all the praise for one last time.

 _Stop being so jealous,_ she deserves it.

Yet Tallie couldn't stop her feelings. As she stood there, stewing in her own jealousy, she heard the doorbell ring. Without a word, she sprinted through the living room, leaping over the coffee table and sticking the landing perfectly into the foyer.

She pressed the button, and the door slid open. Standing at the doorway was a man exactly the same height as Tallie, dressed in an all-black outfit, with one hand gloved and dark blonde hair.

"Master Skywalker, you've arrived!" Tallie cried. "Come in, my sister's been waiting for you."

Luke frowned. "You're not Jaina?"

"No, I'm Tallie," Tallie said nervously. "The older sister. Trust me, I don't have any Force powers. My sister is the real miracle child."

Luke's frown deepened. "I doubt that."

Before Tallie could ask what the Jedi Master meant, Aunt Deila approached, primping herself before extending a hand.

"Master Skywalker, we were wondering when you would arrive," Aunt Deila said. "I hope Tallie hasn't been taking up too much of your time."

Luke smiled. "No, not at all. She was just about to take me to see Jaina."

"Well, come on, then," Aunt Deila said.

Yet Tallie's exchange with the Jedi Master would haunt her for years to come.

* * *

When Luke entered the kitchen, Jaina immediately sprang to her feet, looking as serene and graceful as possible. She gave a little bow.

"Hello, Master Skywalker."

"Hello, Jaina," Luke said. "Are you ready to join the Academy?"

Jaina nodded eagerly. "I can't wait to learn all that I can."

Luke looked to Doran. "Your daughter is very strong with the Force. I could sense it all the way from the foyer."

"She's our miracle girl," Doran said, looking lovingly at his daughter. "Aren't you, Little Comet?"

Jaina blushed, although whether it was because of the nickname or the compliment was up for debate.

"As soon as you've all said your goodbyes, if you could help me and Jaina move her luggage?" Luke asked.

"Of course," Tallie said.

* * *

She couldn't bear to watch Skywalker's shuttle leave. As soon as she'd said her final farewells to Tallie, she ran out back into the house, so she wouldn't have to watch her baby sister leave. As soon as she entered her room, she saw Uncle Gav staring at her starmaps.

"Doran's been teaching you well," Uncle Gav said. "You map stars better than some professionals."

"Well, Dad said if I'm going to fly like him and Mom someday, I need to be a navigator and a pilot," Tallie said. "Both are important."

"I see," Uncle Gav said. "You still want to be a pilot, then?"

"Yeah," Tallie said. "I think I'd like to start with a year or two with service in the Rogue Squadron. Then I think I'd go into Speeder Racing."

"No civilian shuttles for you, then?" Uncle Gav asked.

"Can't say I'd care for those very much," Tallie confessed.

"I can understand that," Uncle Gav said. "You know, if you wanted to be a professional pilot, it would look great if you attended Wedge Antilles's flight school on Hosnian Prime."

"Yeah," Tallie said. "But Dad would never let me go. It's too far, not to mention that the audition is extremely selective."

"Tallie, why do you think Nom and Danni and I came all the way to Pippip 3?" Uncle Gav asked suddenly.

That was when Danni Quee burst through the door, her fat blonde braid flying over her slim shoulders.

"You weren't about to reveal the surprise without us?" Danni asked, Nom stepping out behind her.

"Sorry," Gav said.

"Well, get on with it, then," Nom said.

Danni grinned. "So you know how me and Nom live near the hub of Hosnian Prime, right?"

"Yeah," Tallie said. Anticipation rushed through her veins.

"We pooled our money, the three of us, to pay tuition to Wedge Antilles's flight school," Nom said. "We asked your dad, and he said it would be okay if you left with us tomorrow morning, so you could try out for the school."

"Really?" Tallie's eyes were blue saucers. "No way!"

"Yes way!" Danni said.

"So get your bags packed, because tomorrow you're going to Hosnian Prime!" Gav shouted.

"Dad!" Tallie shouted.

Doran ran up the stairs. "What's wrong, Starshine?"

"Is it true that we're going to Hosnian Prime?" Tallie asked.

"Well, I did some thinking," Doran said. "And I realized that if I was letting Jaina go chase her dreams, I ought to let you do so, as well."

"Thank you, Daddy!" Tallie embraced her father, and the Pulastra brothers laughed.

"She's just like Jayce," Nom said quietly.

"I'd like to think there's a little bit of me there, too," Doran said


	4. Trials of the Academy

Tallie couldn't help herself. She stared up at the structures of durosteel and glass, towering as far as the eye could see until they blended into the sky. Other hopeful pupils rushed past her, mildly irritated at her stillness in the durocrete jungle.

It was nothing like home. The pace, the light, the very look and feel of the place, a quality that Tallie never could name—

She loved it here.

Adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder, Tallie followed the crowd to the inside of the Antilles Flight Academy. In the all-glass lobby, the stairs were blocked off and students were separated into lines based on their last names, as announced by Holo signs hanging above the check-in tables.

Beleaguered-looking young servicemen and women in New Republic military flightsuits were checking their datapads and giving name badges to all of the potential new recruits. Tallie's pulse raced, accelerating to a dance unseen and music un-heard as she trudged forward.

"Name?" asked the bored serviceman.

"Lintra. Tallissan Rhiannon." Tallie hated the sound of her full name in such a posh setting. Maybe Grandma Scout's lightsaber was for a more civilized era, but so was her name.

"Here's the badge." The serviceman practically tossed it at her. She caught the lanyard with the lucky reflexes that had always graced her, and put it around her neck as she headed to the auditorium, following the lines marked off by velvet ropes.

She sat in one of the seats in Section 7, Group A— where she would be, next to a girl with light brown hair tied back in a messy ponytail and freckles sprinkled all over her face.

"Isn't this exciting?" She was practically bouncing on the seat. "I'm Jaden Pethothel." She thrust out her hand at Tallie, who shook it, quickly acclimating to the bouncy attitude. "I'm from Coruscant— I plan to only study here a year, but it's a year that makes all the difference where I'm going!"

Tallie frowned. "Where are you going?"

Jaden dropped her voice low. "Not supposed to say, but my sweetheart? He joined up with Senator Organa's secret army. Surely you've heard the rumors?"

"Not much gets out to where I'm from," Tallie confessed. "But Senator Organa— you do mean Princess Leia, right?"

"Yes," Jaden said, a dreamy tone drifting into her voice. "I hope to meet her someday."

Her light brown eyes caught Tallie's blue ones. "But I suppose I can talk about that later. But anyway, I hope to join the Resistance when I'm of age. But keep that hush-hush, okay?"

"Okay." Tallie was barely following her in the first place. It reminded her of when Jaina drank too much of the drinks from town— the fizzy ones, high in caffeine and everything sweet.

"I'm sorry— I'm being really self-centered here, aren't I?" Jaden frowned sympathetically. "Sorry— I say that a lot— sorry, I'm just nervous. What's your name?"

"I'm Tallie Lintra." No one needed to know her full name anymore. "I'm from Pippip 3."

Jaden frowned. "I'm not the best at navigation and geography— where is that?"

"It's—" Tallie saw several people walk on the stage, and alerts popped up on everyone's holopads, telling them to be courteous and listen. Tallie leaned in, balancing her elbows on her knees as her hero, Wedge Antilles, rose on the stage.

"Welcome to another year at the New Republic Flight Academy," Antilles said. "You have all come from around the galaxy to audition for a chance to join our prestigious ranks. I don't have to explain the benefits— I'm sure your guardians already did so. We will try to move as quickly as possible."

A volunteer stepped up. "Could Group 1, A, come with us please?"

Several students rose, rippling through the ranks in their sections. Jaden nudged Tallie.

"We're going to be here a long time."

It was not nearly as long as Jaden believed, however, before a young woman with black hair tied in a bun and a crescent-shaped necklace called down Group 7, Section A to come practice.

"Hi," Tallie said, taken aback at how pretty the servicewoman was. Her skin was as smooth as moons appeared to be from their planets, her eyes as dark as space with the starlight in her irises— Tallie was constructing traditional Pippipian sonnets in her mind before she was interrupted by said lady.

"Hi, I'm Paige Tico, and I'm volunteering on behalf of Senator Organa today," she said, planting her hands on her hips. "I'll be taking you to the flight sims. We're going to do a simple combat sim, just to test your abilities."

Tallie nodded, putting on her serious face. Although— was Paige part of Organa's secret army?

 _The plot thickens._

Paige met Tallie's eyes. "Remember to breathe— just breathe."

* * *

Tallie had never seen such beautiful technology in her life. Seemingly endless rows of flight sims, meant to be as realistic and immersive as possible. She wanted to run, but she managed to just walk over.

Probably because she wanted to make sure that she impressed Paige.

She turned on the sim, and started with the callsign that flashed on her screen. "Red Thirteen, standing by."

Her father's callsign.

It stuck in her throat, a dry sob.

 _I'll do you proud, Dad,_ she promised.

Other callsigns came in.

"Red Two, standing by," Jaden said.

"Red Seven, standing by," said a deep male voice.

"Alright, this is Red Leader," Paige said. "Anyone recognize this?"

"It's the second Death Star run, sir," Tallie said.

"Very good, Red Thirteen." Tallie felt a little thrill of excitement wash over her as Paige complimented her.

"Battle commences in three, two, one—"

And it was off, passing through in a blur. Tallie didn't remember how much she shot, how she called out commands, stepping in charge as Paige became a background role. Then it happened—

"Red Thirteen, I've got a TIE on my tail," Red Seven called out.

"On it," Tallie said. "Six, take my place— guard the _Falcon_ so Calrissian can make the shot."

She then soared closer to Seven, as he entered the bowels of the second Death Star. She shot at the TIE, trying to stay close—- only to get killed by her own explosion.

It took all of Tallie's will to stay calm. She blew it. She blew her chances of following her dreams.

As Tallie got out of the flightsim, Paige helping her, she couldn't help but cry. She was doomed to always be in her sister's shadow.


End file.
